Are we seeing the real Chivas USA reveal itself? Was that fast start in the Jose Luis “El Chelis” Sanchez Sola reign the stuff of smoke and mirrors. Are the Goats turning back into the disheveled lot we all expected them to be prior to a stunning March?

It’s starting to look like it.

Sunday’s battering at Sporting Park outside Kansas City is the latest evidence. In a word for the visitors: “Yuk.”

It finished at 4-0, and the Goats were never really in it. Some shoddy work in the back led to a give-away that SKC turned into a first-half goal. Later, Graham Zusi’s good work in the midfield sprung Paulo Nagamura, who was brought down for a penalty kick and a 2-0 SKC lead. And … well, you get the idea.

The one caveat is that Dan Kennedy should not have been expelled from this one, and three of the goals landed after the Goats’ outstanding ‘keeper walked off. Still, total shots on goals for Chivas USA: zero. Final edge in shots for the home team: 16-3.

The Goats have not won since March. At 3-4-2 they are not sixth in the West, a lot closer to where we all thought they would be when the scrambled egg of a first season under “Chelis” began. We can pick apart anybody’s wins and losses, of course. But if we peel back the cover on Chivas’ trio of Ws this year, they are quite suspicious.

One win came over FC Dallas in Week 2, before Schellas Hyndman’s team got its midfield sorted out; the visitors from Texas were, simply put, pretty lousy in keeping much shape that day.

One win came over a Chicago side that was a complete mess then. It was easily the best “W” of the Chelis era, a 4-1 battering delivered on the road at Toyota Park. Credit for seizing opportunity, of course, but Chicago really was in a bad way then. Frank Klopas’ team from Illinois has stabilized a bit since then. Just a bit.

A 2-1 win over Vancouver wasn’t bad for Chivas. Then again, the Whitecaps are pretty lousy on the road, 0-4-1 this year and 3-26-10 since joining MLS. So there’s that.